Issaquah May Madness

The Issaquah May Madness contest

Issaquah High school has had a similar contest or nearly identical contest. The Issaquah contest was in the national news in 2013. Some called it May Madness. Some people called it the hot girl contest, it seems.

The article at today.com says that organizers of the contest at Issaquah were savvy enough to do their contest in such a way that the school could not shut it down.

I could be wrong, but it seems that the Issaquah contest ceased to function after the public discussion of it. Also, in the news, the school administration of the Issaquah HS said that they were going to do what they could to find out who was responsible for the page/site.

There is a letter from the Issaquah HS principal out which says that in 2012 they worked with the police cybercrimes unit to get the site shut down. However, the contest was apparently back in action at least in 2013. At least there is a Facebook page of May Madness and it was updated at least somewhat in 2013. The Facebook page has more than 1000 friends! Here are twolinks to the Facebook page, which seems inoperative.

My questions are,

“Were those at Issaquah doing things differently than at Mount Si?”

It seems that they were, because the Issaquah contest–during at least some years–seems to have been more consensual with respect to participants. The news reports state that school administration persons were discouraging people from participating. Also, at Mount Si, the organizers at times may have put people in the contest to intimidate and/or humiliate them and/or cause difficulty in a friendship or family.

Now, I could be wrong with respect to how the Issaquah contest was being run, and it was run differently and by different people in different years. So, I don’t know; I am just guessing, but it seems that the Issaquah organizers had at least somewhat better judgment, at times, than those at Mount Si.

“Or, did the two school administrations have different views of whether or not the contests were disruptive to the school?”

“Or, did the Mount Si school administration simply take the fact that some girls did not like the contest or had hurt feelings and take that fact as meaning that the school environment was being materially disrupted?”

“Or, is the Mount Si administration action of shutting down the contest by threats of expulsion against those who participate in the contest in fact not something the courts would regard as constitutional?”

I personally have doubts that the Mount Si administration has the constitutional power to expel a student based on his actual or potential or anonymous participation in a contest of this type. However, I am not a lawyer, simply one who reads court decisions.

However, the news reports that the Mount Si contest included elements that may have been more likely to hurt the feelings of some girls. One, girls who were critical of the contest were put into it, apparently as a way of intimidation. Two, good friends or sisters at times were placed in the same brackets, in a way that one or the other might end up feeling bad and there might be strain in the family or friendship.

Will the Issaquah contest take place again this year, given that Mount Si has probably shut down the contest in that school?

What were the results of the student created video placed on youtube by Issaquah students on the topic of May Madness?